group meals on Tuscany tours

As you can imagine, with a group of 24-28 people, there is no way to have a regular off the menu dinner. We've been on three tours.
If you have specialty diet requirements; then you list that in your tour questionnaire. And they make those arrangements for you for the group dinners. Otherwise, you have a choice of 2 or 3 meal selections at group dinners. You usually know ahead of time, because the tour guide usually passes around a paper a few days in advance to choose your meal. At least that was our experience for many of our group dinners including a RS tour this past spring.

We've only had one family style dinner on the 3 tours. It was an amazing Thai food meal in Amsterdam where dishes were passed; and it was very controlled in terms of please take 2 skewers, etc. Once everything was passed; there was please help yourself to more. Everyone was mannered and it was a really nice meal.

Breakfast is always buffet and there are occasional group lunches...maybe on a bus travel day. They vary. Sometimes you are taken some place where you are just on your own to order. But, we also had a marvelous farmhouse buffet in Belgium...fabulous.

We’ve been on 12 RS tours now. Some of the group meals have had a couple of options for the main course (sometimes also the app and dessert but that varies) which the tour guide has you chose ahead of the meal, some have not. For example, on the Village Italy tour we had a number of set meals….the truffle farm where every course was with truffles, the farm where we helped make the meal and again at the villa in the vineyards we stayed at. These were all plated though, not family style. We had a traditional “family style” on the southern Italy tour when we went to a family’s home for dinner, sat at a huge table and passed around a number of bowls/platters of food. If you’re referring to going into a restaurant as a group and being able to select from their menu, no, I don’t remember that ever happening. People that have special food needs such as vegans have always been taken care of with special meals.

I might add that some of the group meals have been excellent like our group dinner at the end of our Best of Greece tour and others have not been my favorites with one that was downright awful in my opinion, which is a pretty good ratio for 12 tours. But it’s part of being with a group and we have always been able to balance it out by selecting wonderful restaurants on the nights we are on our own which are more than the nights with the group.

In our tours I don’t ever remember picking food ahead of time. We were usually given 2-3 choices at the time we sat down. On our last tour Ireland the meals were very good. We have not been on your particular tour but have been on three in z Italy & they all had good meals.

One tour there were quite a few vegetarians on the tour & the guide did make sure they had separate meals. Enjoy

We were given choices in advance on several of our tours - usually for 3 different categories (first course, entree, dessert). On some of the tours these choices were made many days in advance. We often had to be reminded what we chose!

With 9 RS tours, 2 of which were Italy/Sicily, our experience(to answer your question) was as Margie states. I'll add, on the whole, some of our most memorable tour meals have been on the Italy tours. Atmosphere, taste, variety, portions and often included complimentary table wines. When you get home, those 5 pounds you gained will be a great souvenir.

We went on a Portugal tour (I know, not Italy) and experienced what others have stated - some group meals were "family-style" with a set menu and platters passed around. I think we were provided with a menu beforehand, so you knew what to expect, but honestly don't recall. Generally some variety, but limited. Other meals were plated and you picked what you wanted beforehand - the guide would then provide the choices to the venue. Special diets seemed to be accommodated pretty well, as far as I could tell. Not all the meals were great - a hazard of group meals generally, and Portuguese "classics" which ran to meat and potatoes, and cod dishes (bacalhau). But I would imagine all Rick Steves tours follow the same pattern.

What is your concern--a dietary requirement, or just being picky? (not that there is anything wrong with that! I just think it would help assuage your concerns if we knew which.) The food is a big part of the Italy experience, so not unheard of to make it part of the planning.

We were on the Tuscany tour in May of 2023. (It was a fantastic tour—highly recommend!) The group meals on our tour were served “family style” for the most part. Several different appetizers, side dishes, main courses and desserts were offered and served on large plates to be passed around the tables. There were always a good variety of options—even for those who were less adventurous or would prefer a meatless option. Breakfasts were always buffet style with endless options. I believe we had one “plated” dinner at the agriturismo we stayed at near Pienza. Again, we had a wonderful time on this tour.

My last RS tour was with a friend who had a very sensitive stomach. We did the best of Italy tour. She was concerned she would eat something that would get her tummy in a tizzy and cause her to skip parts of the tour. First, as said above, the guides took care of all of the major limits if you tell them ahead of time. It turns out there are a lot of Italians who are vegetarians, can't digest milk, and are sensitive to some foods.

FWIW, she had no problems on the tour even when eating some dishes she was unsure about. Usually, back home in the USA she has at least one significant digestion problem every week. In our nearly three weeks in Italy she had none. Go figure.